Do you have any families or sisters that you visit who have wandered off and are lost? Chances are you do. Most people are good and desire to know more and experience more of the gospel light. The majority of baptized members are able to get on the path that leads to the tree of life. But navigating takes care and caution. It’s easy for anyone of us to veer off course and find ourselves on a strange road.

“And it came to pass that there arose a mist of darkness; yea, even an exceedingly great mist of darkness, insomuch that they who had commenced in the path did lose their way, that they wandered off and were lost.

“And after they had tasted of the fruit…they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost.

“And it came to pass that many were drowned in the depths of the fountain; and many were lost…wandering in strange roads” (See 1 Nephi 8:23,28,32).

As home and visiting teachers we have a responsibility to watch over our sisters and families and ensure they do not wander off on strange roads. How do we do this? How will we know? Is it really possible for anyone of us to help steer the course of another? In the next several months I will explore this topic with you, and see if and what we can actually do to help those we watch over.

“For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him” (See Alma 5:59).

Of all the many principles the Savior taught, the most important one to us as shepherds is the principle of ministering. The Savior comforted, healed, blessed, and took a personal interest in the lives of those around him. How can we possibly know if a family or sister of ours is struggling unless we *know* them and have taken the time to show genuine compassion and love to them?

When I was an Elders Quorum president, the most effective thing I did to affect our retention and reactivation of the brethren was weekly ministry visits. Every Thursday my counselors and I visited three to four brethren and their families. Some were inactive, some were active, some were struggling, and some were in crisis. Most of the time we would of never known of the struggles or crises without the visits. We always prayed before the visit that we would have the spirit of discernment to discern the needs of the brethren and their families as we visited them.

On one Thursday evening in particular we visited the home of an inactive brother in the quorum to find a young mother of three alone and without food. This was a week before Thanksgiving. The husband had left the family and this mother was too embarrassed to ask the ward for help as they had not been to church for years. We left the home after a call to the Relief Society President, a blessing upon the mother and a promise that two dedicated home teachers would be there the next day.

“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;

“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God” (See 2 Cor. 1:3-4).

One of the greatest examples of ministering is found in Chapter eleven of third Nephi where Christ visited the Nephites at the temple. In verse 14 it describes how Christ invited the multitude to, “Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel…”

Two things stand out to me. The first is that Christ didn’t raise his hands to the multitude and say *look* at my hands and my feet. He said come here and *touch* my hands and feet so that you may *know* that I am Christ. He personally ministered to each and every Nephite who witnessed this event.

The second thing that impressed me was that there were 2,500 people present (see 3 Nephi 17:25) and the scriptures say that “…the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had *all* gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.”

That had to of taken a long time and to think that the Savior thought it was important for *every* man, woman, and child to feel his wounds impresses upon me the importance of home and visiting teaching.

May we each ensure that our sisters and families know we care about them because we are personally involved in their lives. Ministering is much more than the half hour monthly visit and lesson. It is *practicing* Christlike love.

Posted by John in Feature Articles